1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to multimedia computer communication systems and, in particular, to communication systems which provide Audio-On-Demand services.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the computer industry has observed an increasing demand for versatility in the personal computer market. The average consumer is less interested in high computer performance such as increased memory and clock rates than in the everyday usefulness of a personal computer system. For example, parents may be interested in educational computer programs for their children which instruct using both visual and audio media. As a result, there has been an increasing demand for personal computers and computer networks which have multimedia capabilities.
Among the most desirable multimedia capabilities are those associated with the transmission of audio information. A number of uses have been contemplated for transmission of audio information. For example, a user may want access to music or news, or may want to have a book read to them over their computer. Also, transmission of audio data provides much needed access to valuable information for visually impaired persons. Such multimedia communication systems which provide subscribers with selectable audio information are commonly called audio-on-demand systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,132,992 issued to Yurt, et al., discloses an audio and video transmission and receiving system. The audio and video-on-demand system disclosed by Yurt, et al., distributes video and/or audio information to multiple subscriber units from a central source material library. Digital signal processing is used to compress data within the source material library so that such data can be transmitted over standard communication links such as a cable or satellite broadcast channel, or a standard telephone line to a receiver specified by subscriber service. The receiver subscriber unit includes a decompressor for decompressing data sent from the source materials library and playing back the decompressed data by means of an audio or visual display.
Although known audio-on-demand communication systems offer many significant benefits, such systems are still subject to a number of significant limitations. For instance, significant difficulties are encountered when attempting to provide real time audio playback over narrowband communication links such as a standard telephone line.